One question, hours of content
Since August 2022 Anna-Karin Ivarsson, a radiojournalist at Sveriges Radio, has been conducting what is probably the world’s longest radio survey. With the help of some colleagues along the way, Ivarsson has been asking people a seemingly simple question – what questions about the climate crisis do you carry with you?
The first person the question was posed to was British journalist Alan Rusbridger. However, his response made Ivarsson feel slightly uneasy: “What can you do yourself?”
A valid question, sure, but what if everybody asked the same thing?
Ivarsson needn’t have worried. Although the question ended up being repeated by about every seventh person – a favourable frequency – the very next person asked a question which made Ivarsson realise she was on to something…
“What do you think are the chances of humans surviving until the end of this century?” asked Professor John Naughton.
A startling scenario to consider, but one which Ivarsson knew would start a conversation.
This feeling was further cemented after speaking with Henning Rodhe, a Swedish Meteorologist who was interviewed about the Greenhouse Effect as long ago as the 1980s. Initially he responded, “No, why would I have a question about the climate crisis?”
However, after consideration he revealed a personal response to the question. A feeling he wrestles with every day. “How can I talk to my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, about global warming?”
Rodhe felt if he tells the whole truth, they may be completely overwhelmed, yet it is absolutely necessary that they grasp the seriousness of the situation. They are, of course, the ones who have to live with the consequences. People started to realise that they do have a question that they are carrying around with them.
Over 200 participants – ranging from iconic musicians to students – and hours upon hours worth of responses later, Ivarsson was left with another obstacle to hurdle. How do you pitch a survey that goes on for hours to your managers?
It wasn’t easy, her bosses said no for over one and a half years. Ivarsson had to think differently. A climate show was never going to top the listening charts on the Sveriges Radio app. She needed to package it in a way that was new, that was big, that was spectacular, and that was something that reached beyond Sweden.
Ivarsson started thinking about length. She decided to go deeper, to forget short-form and trust people to listen for a long-time. Could there be scope to approach hours-worth of content in an innovative way? Record-breaking, perhaps?
She spoke with the tech team and they said that for technical reasons the longest podcast they could post is six hours long, then she knew – yes that’s what I’m doing.
The result – three 30 minute-long shows broadcast on air, a four hour-long podcast in English and a six hour-long podcast in Swedish.
It was a hit. Feedback from audiences was positive, they appreciated that they were trusted to engage with long-form content.
One participant of the survey helped the programme reach people it may not otherwise speak to. The question, “What the hell are you doing?”, which made front-page news, was asked by none other than Benny Andersson of ABBA.
